The beauty business is fiercely competitive, so anything you can do to help differentiate you from your competitors will help.
A uniformed staff in a beauty salon is an outwards display of professionalism, which helps the staff themselves feel professional about their jobs, so everyone wins.
A beauty uniform also helps shape the identity of your brand, making you stand out from the rest and giving your business a clearly definable image.
Winning Customer Confidence
“Beauty salons must provide exceptional customer service,” advises Joanne Hunt of Pastelli UK, “and this means making the customer experience central to the business.”
While there should be an emphasis on creating a relaxing atmosphere, with friendly, welcoming staff, there should also a be a strong aura of professionalism about the place.
“Having your staff in crisp, striking beauty uniforms absolutely denotes you as being a cut above,” Joanne says.
The customer experience should involve trained staff who will be dedicated to doing their job with the highest level of expertise. The beauty uniform is an outward badge of this expertise.
“Customer loyalty comes from attention to detail, in getting everything just right for them so that they will want to come back to you,” Joanne observes. “How your staff look and behave, and interact with your clients, is a huge part of this.”
What to Look for in a Beauty Uniform
Along with the desirability of having uniforms to boost your brand, you should also consider the end user, and how they will impact on your staff. It’s important to get this right, because choosing the wrong uniform can be disastrous for staff morale and, by extension, customer relations.
So, along with the look of the uniform, also consider the comfort factor. Your staff are on their feet for long hours, so the uniforms they wear must feel right, giving them freedom of movement and feeling generally comfortable to wear. The material should be breathable, so that they don’t get too hot while working.
You also want your beauty uniforms to be hardwearing, for the same reasons. Beauty is a tough business, so while the uniforms should look great, they have to perform to meet the demands of the job.
Look for versatility, for something that stands out but will endure, and that is appropriate to the task and the setting – you don’t want your beauty staff to look too medical, but at the same time they must look professional.
How Do Your Staff Benefit?
Choosing the right uniform for your salon staff will only happen if your staff are fully on board with the idea. In other words, it’s not just what they wear, but how they wear it.
Therefore, you need to get them to see the benefits of a small, stylish uniform.
Crucially, the right uniform can help instil a strong sense of professional pride in your staff, giving them a real stake in the role they perform in working for your brand.
And if you’re prepared to treat your staff as valued brand ambassadors, they’ll repay your confidence in them with going the extra mile to make your customers happy.
“The beauty uniform is enormously important in helping create a strong, durable brand, and in fostering a sense of collective duty and care,” Joanne concludes.